Stenia
(from stenos, narrow; alluding to the form of the pollen masses). ORD. Orchideae. A small genus (three species) of stove, epiphytal Orchids, natives of Guiana, Columbia, and Peru. Flowers rather large; sepals of equal length, spreading, the lateral ones rather broader, adnate at base to the foot of the rather thick, erect column; petals similar to the dorsal sepal; lip continuous with the foot of the column, fleshy, broad, nearly saccate, the lateral lobes small, the middle one undivided, or all broader and fimbriate, the disk crested; pollen masses four, oblong-linear; scapes short, recurved, one-flowered. Leaves oblong or narrow, coriaceous. Stems shortened. Pseudo-bulbs clustered, one or two-leaved. For culture, see Maxillaria. S. fimbriata (fringed). fl. light yellow, membranous, marked at the base of the elegantly-fringed lip with brownish-purple dots; peduncles erect. l. cuneate-oblong, acute. Columbia, 1869. SYN. Chondrorhynca fimbriata (Ref. B. 107).
S. guttata (spotted). This species is closely related to S. pallida, but differs in having blunter sepals and petals, with spots of purple on a straw-coloured ground, and in the lip being blotched and having only seven callous teeth. Peru, 1880.
S. pallida (pale). fl. pale citron-colour, 1 1/2in. or more in diameter; sepals and petals linear, acute; lip spotted with red, saccate, entire, fleshy, ovate; scapes radical, prostrate. August to October. l. two to five, oblong, acute, slightly narrowed and keeled at base, sheathed with brownish, spathaceous scales. Stem wanting. Demerara, 1837. (B. R. 1838, 30.)